Sleepwalking into catastrophe

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia for failing to satisfy all the demands in its ultimatum. Tsarist Russia, conscious of its image as protector of small Slavic states, announced it was mobilizing its armies to threaten Austria-Hungary. Russian mobilization set off alarm bells in Berlin, since Germany's only war plan, the Schlieffen Plan, to win a two-front war against France and Russia, was predicated on slowness of Russian mobilization. When it was clear that Russia was mobilizing along its entire border, the Germans declared war on Russia.

But the Schlieffen Plan called for a quick German victory over France by striking through neutral Luxembourg and Belgium. On August 2, German troops marched into Belgium, whose neutrality had been guaranteed by an 1839 international treaty. Great Britain, which had made secret commitments to France. demanded that Germany pull back from Belgium, and when this went unheeded, the British ambassador in Berlin informed the German Chancellor that this meant war. It was on this occasion that Bethmann uttered the unfortunate remark: So you are going to go to war "over a mere scrap of paper."

Within a week from July 28, World War I had begun, and would not end for four years and three months — changing Europe and the world forever.